car companies take expertise in battery power beyond the garage

DAVIS, Calif. —
As more homeowners use solar panels to generate electricity, they still need utility power after the sun goes down.
Now, automakers say they may have an answer by storing carbon
Free energy in electric vehicle batteries for later use.
Honda will launch an experimental room in the eco-friendly community on Tuesday to show technology that allows the House to generate more power than it consumes.
This is an example of the convergence of solar companies and automakers on common goals: creating self
Enough home, car battery is the key.
With construction and transportation accounting for 44% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, auto companies are increasingly
Electric and hydrogen fuel-
Battery cars will meet environmental requirements and lead to the development of new energy services and products outside the garage.
Ford, Tesla and Toyota are pursuing similar strategies.
\"In terms of vehicles, it\'s a new world, it\'s not an isolated artifact, it\'s part of a larger energy system, I think the biggest opportunity for automakers is to figure out how their vehicles are part of the system, \"said Daniel spallin, director of the University of California\'s Institute of Transport, Davis, it provides construction site and heating and lighting technology for Honda smart home.
Core of Honda 1,944-square-
Foot home is a room located outside the spotless garage with 10 KW square meters inside. hour lithium-
Ion battery pack in black box.
The battery is a smaller version that powers the full battery
Stop in the nearby Honda Fit electric car.
There is a larger white box next to the battery pack called the home energy management system.
It is the brain of the house, deciding when to take advantage of the renewable power generated by car 9. 5-
An array of kilowatts of solar panels installed on the roof of the home charges or stores solar energy for the car\'s batteries.
The roof solar panels are about twice the size of a suburban home.
The power generated by solar panels and stored in the battery pack allows the home to operate independently of the grid if necessary.
The home delivers excess power to the grid.
If, in the summer, utilities become overloaded when temperatures soar and everyone turns on the air --
Local power suppliers can send signals that instruct families to send solar energy to the grid to help avoid power outages.
A house of the same size will cost 13. 3 megawatt-
Smart homes are expected to generate a power surplus of 2 hours a year. 6 megawatt-
According to Honda, it works several hours a year.
\"We can reduce our carbon footprint below zero,\" said Michael conig, head of Honda\'s smart home project, standing in the airy, well-lit living room --
The replay of the mcchale Navy was played in a big apartment when the house was full of people
Screen TV embedded in the wall.
He holds an iPad, from lighting to the power system, which can control all the functions of the home wirelessly, indicating that the house produces 4.
On some sunny mornings, 2 KW of the electricity was consumed by 0. 84 kilowatt.
\"The system will calculate the household electricity load for the day based on the family\'s history and expected solar output, and will only purchase electricity at the lowest price,\" Mr. Koenig said.
The Honda Fit electric car in the garage has also been modified to receive energy directly from the solar cell array.
To minimize power consumption, Honda and the university have installed several energy sources
Saving technology.
The geothermal system is heated on the ground below the house to provide heating and cooling while the energy-
Efficient automatic lighting can adjust the tone of the led according to the natural light.
In the evening, for example, the light no longer makes a blue tone, which is found to interfere with sleep.
Making concrete is a kind of carbon.
After intense processing, Honda replaced half of the concrete on the foundation with volcanic ash.
Steve Center, vice president of environmental business development office at Honda, said the company does not expect to sell green products
Establish such innovation.
Honda will focus on selling the potential of home energy management technology and battery systems to homeowners, builders and utilities.
\"We see a lot of things coming together,\" he said . \"Center said.
\"With car batteries, there will be new business models such as home energy sharing and energy storage.
One way to get into the home, he says, is to align with solar panel installers such as SolarCity.
In 2013, Honda and SolarCity created $65 million in funding for Honda customers to install solar cell arrays.
Ford reached an agreement with SunPower to give buyers of electric cars a discount on the company\'s solar panels.
Prototype of Ford C-Here is the Energi plugin
In hybrid cars, SunPower uses 16 square feet of solar panels on the roof to charge the car\'s batteries.
Public facilities are not required.
\"If battery prices continue to fall, it is clear that there are business reasons for the domestic market,\" said Mike Tinskey, Ford\'s director of vehicle electrified and infrastructure worldwide . \".
\"You can charge the car\'s battery with low power at night\"
Cost, potential cleaning electronics are at a higher rate than the one you use during the day.
\"Of course, this will threaten the revenue of utilities, which have become an obstacle to such a system.
In California, SolarCity has provided 10 KW of the electricity to some customers. hour lithium-
An ion battery pack made by Tesla Motors for storing power generated by solar panels.
But the state\'s three major utilities have been slow to connect these systems to the grid, arguing that when rates are low, homeowners can use batteries to store electricity, and when rates are high, electricity can be sold to them.
So far, regulators have supported solar companies.
On October, the California Utilities Commission ordered utilities to obtain 1,325 MW of energy storage by 2020 to help balance the grid, as more renewable but intermittent sources of electricity appear online.
The utilities commission also issued a preliminary ruling on October instructing utilities to plug the homeowner\'s battery storage system into the grid free of charge.
But the ruling allows homeowners to charge for connections if their batteries can store more power than solar panels produce.
With the surge in solar equipment in the United States, state subsidies pay 60% of the cost of installing California\'s home energy systems, automakers expect more homeowners to see their electric vehicles as backup power in the event of a power grid outage.
Whether it\'s an electric car or a hydrogen fuel
Although the technology has not yet been deployed outside of the pilot project, battery cars can be modified to return power to the home or grid.
Honda Fit electric car has 20 KW-
The most expensive Tesla Model S electric sports car has 85 degrees of electricity. hour battery.
Hyundai, Honda and Toyota can produce at least 100 KW of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles next year.
Average household consumption in the United States is about 30 KW
According to the US Energy Information Agency, the daily power supply time is several hours.
\"There is great potential for fuel --
Battery car as a home power supply, \"Mr. Center said.